Mays v. Dart

Anthony Mays

Anthony Mays was detained at the Cook County Jail in a congregate living space with about 40 beds per tier, spaced at two feet apart. He had diabetes and had been previously referred for a heart condition evaluation.

Since the COVID-19 outbreak, sick call slips had been removed and Mr. Mays had no way of seeking health care. He felt sick and unsafe. 

Carter Young

Carter Young was detained at the Cook County Jail, where he spent most of his days in a room with 350-400 people. He only received one small bar of soap per week without any additional cleaning supplies. Mr. Young witnessed other detainees ask for masks and be denied. 

Brandon Mathis

Brandon Mathis was detained at Cook County Jail because he couldn’t afford to pay a $40,000 bail. He was extremely medically vulnerable to COVID-19 due to throat reconstructive surgery he had after being shot, making it difficult to breathe. Mr. Mathis also had open-heart surgery as a child and suffered from blood clots and swelling in his feet – a condition he was not being medicated for. 

He resided in a division of the jail where detainees remained close together in the common room, day room, or on the phones. Detainees shared a shower room that was not regularly sanitized. Mr. Mathis and another person shared a cell that had not been cleaned. He was not given soap, hand sanitizer, or any personal protection equipment. 

Despite two men in Mr. Mathis’ division tested positive for COVID-19 and Mr. Mathis himself beginning to exhibit symptoms, he had not been tested.

Tyneisha Perkins

As COVID-19 spread, Tyneisha Perkins and other people detained at Cook County Jail ate in two shifts. They sat at three tables in the dayroom, with five to six people per table. For those assigned the second shift, food often sat out for a while, making it potentially dangerous and unsanitary to eat. Some days, detainees were only given bread to eat.

Rafael Ortiz

Rafael Ortiz was detained at Cook County Jail because he couldn’t afford to pay a $40,000 bail. He lived in a dorm setting, with detainees sleeping on cots in close quarters. Detainees also had to share a bathroom and shower.

When a man who slept across from Mr. Ortiz tested positive for COVID-19, he was removed. But despite suffering nose bleeds and having difficulty breathing, Mr. Ortiz had not been tested.

Hear more testimony from people detained at Cook County Jail here. 

UPDATE

MJC, Chicago Community Bond Fund, Loevy & Loevy, and Civil Rights Corp won an injunction in the district court, which directed Cook County Sheriff Thomas Dart to take several protective measures for those detained in Cook County Jail, including: 

• Maintain and carry out a policy requiring prompt coronavirus testing 
• Enforce social distancing, including suspension of the use of bullpens and other multiple-person cells or enclosures to hold new detainees awaiting intake
• Provide soap and/or hand sanitizer to all detainees in quantities sufficient to permit them to frequently clean their hands
• Provide sanitation supplies sufficient to enable all staff and detainees to regularly sanitize surfaces and objects
• Provide facemasks to all detainees who are quarantined
• Establish a policy precluding group housing or double celling detained persons, with few exceptions 

Sheriff Dart appealed to the Seventh Circuit, asking the court to release his office from the preliminary injunction ordered in the lawsuit. The Seventh Circuit reversed and vacated a portion of the preliminary injunction that precluded double celling and group housing. It affirmed the remainder of the preliminary injunction. 

Sheriff Dart than filed a petition for writ of certiorari in the United States Supreme Court, asking it to review the Seventh Circuit’s objective standard for reviewing conditions-of-confinement claims by pretrial detainees – a standard adopted in light of the Supreme Court’s decision in Kingsley v. Hendrickson, 135 S. Ct. 2466 (2015). MJC filed a brief in opposition and the Court denied the sheriff’s petition.